1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a blood pressure cuff for a sphygmomanometer, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a blood pressure cuff which is adapted for being used in an independent-measurement type sphygmomanometer.
2. Description of the Related Art
The human body performs metabolism through blood, and therefore, it is necessary to frequently measure a blood pressure to confirm a condition of one's health. Generally, the term `blood pressure` means an arterial blood pressure of the brachial artery.
The conventional blood pressure measuring method is typically implemented by wrapping a blood pressure cuff around the upper arm containing an artery, inflating the blood pressure cuff to a predetermined pressure thereby to occlude the artery, gradually reducing the pressure to allow increased blood flow through the artery, and measuring blood pressures at the times when the Korotkov sounds are generated and vanished as blood flow is restarted in the brachial artery thereby to determine a maximum blood pressure and a minimum blood pressure.
An electronic sphygmomanometer is a device in which an air bag is inflated with air supplied from an air pump to occlude the brachial artery and the air is deflated from the air bag to the outside to depressurize the air bag, and times when the Korotkov sounds are generated and vanished and blood pressures at that times are measured to render numerical expressions, thereby enabling blood pressure measurement to be conveniently carried out.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view illustrating a construction and usage of a blood pressure cuff for a dependent-measurement type sphygmomanometer of the conventional art, which is most widely used. The blood pressure cuff 11 includes an air bag (not shown). The air bag is disposed in the blood pressure cuff 11 and is connected via an air hose 15 to a main body (not shown) of the sphygmomanometer. The blood pressure cuff 11 has a shape of an elongate rectangle. A Velcro brand hook and loop fastener strip 13 and a complementary Velcro brand hook and loop fastener strip 14 are secured to both ends of the blood pressure cuff 11, respectively, thereby enabling the blood pressure cuff 11 to be firmly attached to the upper arm U of the human body M.
The blood pressure cuff 11 constructed as mentioned above and shown in FIG. 1 can be used with no problem in the case that it is attached to the upper arm U of the human body M by a separate measurer M'.
However, recently, as an independent-measurement type sphygmomanometer is widely distributed as being an electronic sphygmomanometer, the blood pressure cuff 11 as shown in FIG. 1 suffers from defects in that it is difficult for a user to independently and personally attach the blood pressure cuff 11 to the upper arm U of one arm with the hand of the other arm.
To cope with this problem, for an independent-measurement type sphygmomanometer, a blood pressure cuff 21 as shown in FIG. 2 is used. A D-ring R is provided to one end of the blood pressure cuff 21, and an attachment tab 22 is formed at the other end of the blood pressure cuff 21. A Velcro brand hook and loop fastener strip 23 is secured to the attachment tab 22, and a complementary Velcro brand hook and loop fastener strip 21a is secured to an outer surface of the blood pressure cuff 21. In the blood pressure cuff 21 constructed as mentioned above, a user inserts his one hand H into a loop, as shown in FIG. 2A, which is defined by the fact that the attachment tab 22 is passed through the D-ring R, and then, the blood pressure cuff 21 is raised to the upper arm U using the other hand H'.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2B, the attachment tab 22 is pulled by the other hand H' and is folded back to engage the Velcro brand hook and loop fastener strip 23 with the complementary Velcro brand hook and loop fastener strip 21a, thereby to complete the attachment of the blood pressure cuff 21 to the upper arm U.
Then, as shown in FIG. 2C, air is supplied via an air hose 24 into an air bag A disposed in the blood pressure cuff 21, from an air pump (not shown) of a main body of the independent-measurement type sphygmomanometer, thereby pressing the upper arm U to occlude the artery.
However, since a pressure of air supplied into the air bag A must have an extent to block blood flow in the brachial artery, it causes the human body M to experience compression which leads to pain. Also, because the D-ring R is made of metal having substantial rigidity, considerably large deformation stress is induced therein. As a result, the independent-measurement type sphygmomanometer is still encountered with a problem in that the D-ring R can be deformed or detached from the blood pressure cuff 21 and the blood pressure cuff 21 can cause pain or stress to the user thereby preventing an accurate blood pressure measurement from being obtained.